


Hang-Ups

by anupalya



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean has a bunny, M/M, UX Designer Castiel, Zoom Meetings, accidental "love you", quarantine fic, software developer Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27787336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anupalya/pseuds/anupalya
Summary: A slip of the tongue while hanging up a zoom meeting with Castiel leaves Dean in a panic.****JsksdjdjskalI'm starting to think you're letting Blueberry walk over your keyboard again.i'm moving to Thailand?????I have toDeanI have no choice... so I take it the meeting went well?
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester/Eileen Leahy (implied)
Comments: 42
Kudos: 301





	Hang-Ups

**Author's Note:**

> written because it's quarantine and I live in constant terror of saying "love you" by mistake when hanging up my zoom work calls.
> 
> No focaccia was harmed in the making of this fic.
> 
> Many thanks to the incredible [EllenofOz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllenOfOz/pseuds/EllenOfOz) (a wonderful author, please go check out her work because she's just fantastic!!!) for betaing this nonsense I wrote at 11 at night! T_T

_Ajshdhdkakdndndn_

**_......? Handmaiden? Are you okay?_ **

_Shsnskdlfjak_

**_Please tell me you're not having a stroke. Or like, having your brain eaten by an evil space slug_ **

_I don't think the slug was eating his brain_

**_Oh, he speaks! Or, uh, types coherently_ **

_charlieeee_

**_Seriously wtf dude_ **

_Jsksdjdjskal_

**_I'm starting to think you're letting Blueberry walk over your keyboard again._ **

_i'm moving to Thailand_

**_?????_ **

_I have to_

**_Dean_ **

_I have no choice_ ****

**_... so I take it the meeting went well?_ **

**_***_ **5 minutes earlier ***

"Prototypes have been uploaded to the shared folder, along with all specs, agile release prioritization, and original requirements documentation. All that remains now is to log a ticket."

"Awesome," Dean beamed. This was the best kind of handoff, seriously _._ No surprises, no last-minute edge cases, no major feasibility issues. Handoff meetings at this company had an unfortunate tendency to uncover nasty surprises, although that typically wasn't due to any failing on Castiel's part. Zachariah, the product-manager-who-thought-he-was-a- _people-_ manager, often gave Cas product requirements that were so disjointed for the sake of being "scrappy" and "agile" that Cas was left scrambling. Dean privately thought that Zachariah had no idea what either “scrappy” or “agile” actually meant. In fact, he strongly suspected that Zachariah had just come across the terms in some asshole’s keynote speech at such-and-such conference, and had (correctly) identified them as buzzwords he could leverage to get away with shoddy work, while passing all the real wrangling on to Cas.

But some days…some days, Cas had found every edge case and idiosyncrasy and had accounted for them with elegance, and he _knew_ it. Ever state was documented, every system behavior confirmed, making Dean’s job on the software development side of things that much easier. And Castiel himself, relaxed and confident, was a sight to behold - azure eyes sparkling, broad shoulders straight, hand gestures both decisive and elegant. Dean’s breath regularly caught while watching Castiel on days like this, the knowledge that he was on camera the only deterrent to the goofy smile that kept creeping onto his face.

Dean looked on with pride as the representatives from Product, including Zachariah, all gave their approval for the designs to be handed off to Dean’s team. One by one, said their goodbyes and left the zoom meeting, Dean and Castiel’s video thumbnails growing larger and larger until each of them took up half the screen.

As soon as they were the only ones remaining on the call, Cas let out a whoop and collapsed back in his chair, laughing with his hands thrown above his head in overexaggerated relief. The position revealed the usually half-obscured poster in the background - _UX requires a love for humanity -_ as well as several house plants that Dean had forgotten the names of by now, despite Cas having fondly reminded him at least three times at this point.

“Victoryyyy!” Dean crowed as Cas spun slowly in his desk chair from the leftover momentum, arms still akimbo and smiling broadly.

“Fuck, I’m glad that’s over,” Cas groaned. 

Dean chuckled. “You said it, buddy. Honestly, I think even Zack was surprised at how smoothly that went.”

Cas snorted. “If anyone was going to be surprised, it _would_ be him, given I had to do half his job in addition to my own.” He straightened up and leaned over his laptop on one elbow. His smirk softened to a smaller, warm smile. Dean rarely saw that smile emerge in group settings, but quarantine became just a bit less lonely every time Cas sent it his way.

“Thank you, Dean.” 

“Cas—”

“No, Dean, you know how much you helped me—”

“—you were the brainpower behind this project, you always are—”

“—can’t you let me—”

“—just answered your questions—”

“—perspective is very important for the feasibility of—”

“—come _on,_ anyone on my team—”

“—dammit Dean, just say you’re welcome!”

“Fine, you’re welcome!”

Both grinned at each other, their post-handoff ritual completed. From the very beginnings of their working relationship, Dean had never been able to accept any credit for their joint successes, which had irked Castiel to no end. As they had grown more comfortable with each other, project after project, Cas had been relentless about getting Dean to stop downplaying his talents. Nearly a year later, Dean was far more confident in his own ability, but still enjoyed riling up his friend.

A bump by Dean’s ankle had him grinning down at a storm-grey bunny who’d found her way into the living room. No doubt she had come as soon as she’d heard Castiel laugh.

“Is that Blueberry?” came Castiel’s voice. “Bring her up, bring her up, I want to say hi!”

Blueberry consented to being picked up and contentedly rested in the crook of Dean’s elbow, washing her ears as Dean scratched at her shoulders.

“There’s my girl! There’s my Blueberry!” cooed Cas through the camera. Dean’s heart gave a little flutter that had nothing to do with how Blueberry was now stretching up on her hind legs to nibble at his face. He scritched his sweet girl behind the ears as she nuzzled him, all the while melting under Castiel’s besotted gaze.

 _He’s looking at Blueberry,_ he reminded himself sternly. _That look is for Blueberry, not for you._

With Cas and Blueberry, it had been love at first sight. Dean was sure that only the threat of their surprisingly competent HR department was the only thing that kept some of his coworkers—Zachariah, mostly—from making fun of him, a grown and outwardly stereotypically-masculine man, the first time they saw Blueberry on camera. To be fair, Dean himself would have never guessed that he would one day share his apartment with a pet rabbit. However, the dual force of Sam and his seven-year-old niece Sadie’s puppy eyes after Sadie had turned out to be allergic to her birthday present had been too much for even Dean’s curmudgeonly facade. With only a token protest and much grumping, Dean had become Blueberry’s human.

Castiel had taken one look at Blueberry during a routine call after quarantine had first begun and declared her his precious darling in a voice several octaves above his usual growl. Blueberry, for her part, always managed to find her way to the laptop, which Dean was fairly certain she understood to be the source of the adoring voice.

It was just one more way that Cas managed to be perfect.

A timer sounded in Cas’s apartment before Zoom managed to mute it.

“Bread again?”

“Rosemary and parmesan focaccia, this time,” Cas grinned. “My homemade masterpiece awaits, peasants!”

“Asshole,” sniped Dean. He turned his face into Blueberry’s neck, muttering just loudly enough for Cas to hear, “We don’t need his stupid homemade foccacia, do we, ‘berry? We’re fine with pastrami on rye, yes we are—”

“Hey—”

“Mr. Fancypants can go enjoy his quarantine focaccia—”

“Thank you, I will.”

“—and we’ll just be right here.”

“My focaccia makes all the boys swoon, I'll have you know—”

“Well _focaccia_ you—”

“You would be so lucky!”

“Oh yeah?”

“ _Yes,_ ” They grinned stupidly at each other. 

_That look isn’t for Blueberry._

Dean blinked. “Ah—you’d better take it out before it burns.”

“I suppose I’d better,” came the rueful reply. “Thank you again.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dean rubbed the back of his neck. “You did great, Cas.”

“Thank you, Dean. See you in the all-hands?”

“Yeah, ‘course.”

“Enjoy your lunch, then, both of you.” 

Dean grinned down at Blueberry. “Oh, we will.” He met Cas’s fond eyes once more as he reached to disconnect the call. “Bye Cas, love you.” He hung up.

Dean smiled again at Blueberry. “Let’s get you some hay, Miss Blueberry, yes? And a sandwich for me, and—”

Oh.

SHIT.

...

Blueberry slipped out from Dean’s lax grasp and scampered into the bathroom, where her litterbox awaited. Dean, meanwhile, sat frozen.

_Fuck._

  
  


*** Present ***

  
  


Dean winced as the triple-pop of the Slack notification sounded again, signaling the fifth ignored message from Cas.

_so that’s it_

**_….Dean_ **

**_Dean Winchester_ **

**_My friend, colleague, and handmaiden._ **

_that was ONE time_

**_are you serious right now? You’re freaking out because you accidentally called the teacher “mom”??_ **

_this is totally different from that and you know it_

**_only because you’re a dumbass who won’t do anything about it_ **

_Charlie, come on_

**_No, Dean._ **

_We’ve been over this_

**_DEAN_ **

A sixth triple-pop signalled another unread message from Cas. ****

**_He’s slacking you right now, isn’t he?_ **

_maybe_

**_Dean, I love you, but you’re acting like a dumbass. At least respond to the guy!_ **

Before he could formulate a reply, an incoming Slack call began chirruping.

_hes callngf me_

**_Then ANSWER IT_ **

Cursing, Dean picked up the call.

Cas’s face filled the screen, brows pinched together in frustration. Dean dropped his gaze, ears flaming.

“To be fair, I did warn you I would call if you didn’t answer me,” came the quiet rumble.

“I didn’t see that,” muttered Dean. 

“Dean.”

Dean did not look up.

“Dean,” more gently, “look at me.”

Castiel’s pinched brows had now turned upwards, lips parted in concern. Dean dragged a hand down his face.

“I’m sorry, Cas, _fuck_ , I-I know how, how _unprofessionally_ I’m behaving, I’m sorry, I—”

“Seeing as we crossed the line into friendship many months ago, I’m more worried at your apparent embarrassment, although I can’t fathom why for a simple slip of the tongue. Dean, surely you can’t think I believed you were serious?”

It was odd how that could sting, even though it was exactly what he should have wanted.

“Yeah. Yeah, Cas, I’m sorry. You know me, always making a huge deal of things.”

Cas’s eyes twinkled. “I know,”

“I’m just weird about—”

“I am aware.”

“I don’t usually just _say—_ ”

“Oh, certainly not.”

“—I mean, to Sammy or Eileen or Sadie, sure, but—”

“Dean.”

“Hm?” Dean met his eyes sheepishly.

“After quarantine is over, would you like to come eat focaccia in my apartment with me?”

Dean stared. Cas was still looking at him earnestly, his small, warm smile on his lips, a touch of pink over his cheeks the only indication that this wasn’t a casual invitation.

“Focaccia?”

“Fresh-baked, I promise.”

“And…” Dean gulped. “And maybe a movie to go with it?”

“Naturally.”

“And...and alfalfa for Blueberry?”

“The occasion would warrant the treat, don’t you think?”

The _occasion._ “Yeah.”

“In the meantime, however, I’m free after work—”

“Who _isn’t_ these days?”

“—if you’d like to join me virtually to stream _The Orville_?”

Dean smiled shyly. “I’d like that.”

“Good.”

A pause.

“I’ll, um...see you in all-hands?”

“Indeed.”

“See you then, Cas,”

“Goodbye, Dean.”

They held each other’s gaze for another second, then disconnected.

**Author's Note:**

> [Rebloggable link](https://anupalya.tumblr.com/post/636167359340707840/hang-ups)


End file.
